Darren Young - I'm A WWE Superstar And I'm Gay

TMZ.com caught up with Darren Young of the Prime Time Players at LAX in Los Angeles and he publicly came out as gay. When asked by a photog if a gay wrestler could be successful in WWE, Young said:

"Absolutely. Look at me, you know, I'm a WWE Superstar and to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay. And I'm happy. Very happy."

After Young made the statement, the photog talked about being surprised and Young said he didn't think it mattered. He reiterated he's "happy" and "comfortable" with himself. Young said he's living the dream and is in Los Angeles for SummerSlam. He is hoping to make a difference and that it's important that someone's sexual preference shouldn't matter.

TMZ, who first broke the story, has the video of the interview at this link.

Richard Reacts: Darren Young is the only active WWE superstar to publicly come out. Orlando Jordan, who previously worked for WWE, is openly bisexual and Pat Patterson (who is now a creative consultant for WWE) is openly gay. However, let's not downplay or understate this story. This is big and this took courage. Today is a good day to be a pro wrestling fan and an even better day for those who want to see equality for all. As someone that works in the media, I take responsibility in helping to raise awareness and eradicate homophobia for good. This is a giant leap forward for the business and Brooks Oglesby talks even more about that at this link.

Richard Gray's Statements:

It's a great day to be a pro wrestling fan and a giant leap forward for the business. Well done @DarrenYoungWWE. We support you 100%

John Cena Says He's Proud Of Darren ...

Richard Gray is the owner and editor of WrestlingNewsWorld.com. Covering the professional wrestling business since 1999, Richard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia University. He is also the owner of Gray Internet Technologies, LLC. and should be contacted with all business matters. You can friend him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. Email him directly at [email protected].

Simon Veitch

Takes some guts to come out like that, especially when you’re not exactly the biggest name on the show and Vince has been known to have no limits with characters. Great to see that guys like Darren Young are removing some of the stigma around people’s sexuality in pro wrestling

KINGJamsie

Good for you Darren Young.

Venom

I remember back when Kevin Nash was commenting on John Travolta possibly being gay because when he gave him a hug or put his arm around him, he did it by the waist. Then I made a comment on the article “Does that mean Darren Young is gay since every time Prime Time Players do the Million Dollar dance Darren always puts his arm around Titus’s wasit.

Lance UpperCutt

As long as his ring work is good no-one should care (pun intended).

Johnny B. Goode

I wonder how the WWE is going to handle this from an angle stand point. Currently he says things like:

“As comfortable in the VIP section as he is in the ring, Darren Young’s life revolves around three things — money, women and wrestling.”

From his official twitter account

I would hope that the WWE does nothing to his character. If Billy and Chuck can have gay characters there is no reason that Darren Young can’t play a straight character.

Though I have no confidence in WWE to not try and take full advantage of this

Justin Lal

Stephanie already tweeted her approval. WWE is always catering to the media so I’m sure they will have a positive reaction to this story.

Jasterkast

Modern day Babylon! A sad day in pro-Wrestling!

Robert Olley

It depends if darrens comfortable with it if anything vince takes his talents feeling into consideration and certainly wouldnt make them do anything they werent comfortable with

Matt

No, it’s not like Vince at ALL to do things that are horrifying to watch.

FactionZer0

He’s a brave guy and I respect, but lets be honest, who didn’t see that coming?

Robert Olley

Ahh so your tge type who looks at people at thinks tgeir gay by their mannerisms

Carlos is a dumbass

How old are you? I ask because you have the writing the skills of a 9 year old.

Robert Olley

Once again i post from my iphone are you stalking my posts or something from your dictionary

Xavier

Black Cena’s Gay? I saw that coming a mile away!

Xavier

Hey douche, quit stealing my name and posting random crap

Dustyn

Good for him, nothing wrong with that at all!

Justin Lal

There’s no way Young will get in trouble in any way for coming out, if anything he will most likely be rewarded. Young is smart enough to realize WWE is currently doing anti-bullying campaigns and one of his bosses (Stephanie) tweeted months ago about her support for gay marriage.

Phil D. Garrie

I don’t see how him stating he is gay has anything to do with what Stephanie said or the anti bullying campaign. Regardless he would still be seen in the same light now even if neither Stephanie nor the campaign even occurred. Correct me if I’m reading it wrong but you seem to be implying that without those saving graces young would be in “trouble”. What trouble? You can’t fire someone for being gay that is extremely prejudiced.

Scottyo614

Good for him now let’s move on. No reason this is still a big deal after everyone that has came out.

And I’m not trying to be harsh, because it takes courage, but with more people coming out there’s support. Also it’s 2013, if we as a society didn’t make it a big deal when someone came out, I think more would. Not everyone wants the spotlight or it bringing drama.

Robert Olley

Imo a historic day the first active wrestler to come out as gay ( not counting orlando brcause hes bisexual no offense meant at all) and i only hope that he doesnt get stick from bigotted fans

Carlos is a dumbass

Dude, you really need to learn how to spell correctly if your going to be always posting on here. Seeing your comments and your constantly misspelled words on here is down right embarrassing,

Ricky

Stay classy.

Carlos is a dumbass

Okay okay, but only if Robert promises to get hooked on phonics.

Ricky

Could be typing from a tablet or smart phone. Don’t be an ass.

Carlos is a dumbass

Asking me not to be a ass is like asking your boy to spell a word correctly 🙂

Ben

An* ass, and you misspelled grammar as “grammer” in a post, too. I’m going to assume your name is Carlos? If so, good on you for admitting you have a problem. That’s the first step on the road to recovery.

dave

‘*YOU’RE going to be posting on here.’ Also sentences end with a full stop (or a period if you’re American), if you’re going to criticise others’ spelling at least use correct grammar and spelling yourself.

Carlos is a dumbass

My grammer is fine. CM Punk would be ashamed of you coming on here and defending Robert’s illiteracy

Sorry

grammar*

Robert Olley

Yes yes i know i post with my iphone anyway you can still read it if it matter that much to you i pity you

HurriOwl

I had a feeling, for whatever reason, that a superstar or diva on the roster would come out off the closet soon. I didn’t expect Darren Young, though. Hmm

majo

Such an brave act by Young

illdecide

I’m surprised its allowed under wwe’s pg initiative…

Seriously though congrats Darren, all the best!

Philip Thompson

Completely inappropriate comment. As if it’s a threat to children to be gay? If those are your views then maybe you should move to Russia or Uganda.

illdecide

Completely backwards interpretation of my comment. It was a bash of how WWE PG has taken pretty much anything remotely controversial out of the program. If anything it was a bit of a lame jab, but not meant to be at gay people at all (hence the second part of the comment.)

Philip Thompson

Ah ok, glad you clarified that.

illdecide

Yeah man one of my best friends is, and our sexualities have never even come up in conversation, other than if one of us has a boy/girlfriend. We hang out, play video games, have beers, watch football… Never was a big deal.

Robert Olley

Richard is this comment going to get deleted and the user banned?
Ill admit ive made some bad comments on here but nothing like that

illdecide

Didn’t I clarify my position below well enough? Or did you play yourself out after reading 2 sentences? It wasn’t and isn’t a bash against sexuality in any way. If it was a slur why would I follow it up with congratulations? Ill admit it was worded poorly, but I can’t speak for how you interpret things.

Matt

Getting sick of you on here to be honest. You have your head so far up Richards ass it’s embarrassing and clamoring for people to be banned? How pathetic are you?

Matt is a tool

Everybody is more sick of you and your petty insults. Do us all a favor and jump

Winnipeg

So……………he’s gay?

Harlie Boucher

Good for him, and with all the attention he’s getting, it might even boost his career too for doing this. He might be shown more prominently on television now so WWE can show they support him and doesn’t care that he’s gay.

Philip Thompson

Whilst I agree with the sentiment – he shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be rewarded and shouldn’t be punished – it should make no difference. If he gets bumped up the roster for it then he could rub other workers up the wrong way. The only thing that should matter is what he does in the ring and how he carries himself professionally.

Harlie Boucher

I don’t think he’ll get placed in the card higher. I just think he might get more TV time. Prime Time Players haven’t been featured too much like they were getting.

Jack

I am glad, this seems to be accepted, because it should be. Glad he is able to live his life on his terms, Happy for him.

Johnny B Goode

I am still waiting for Tamina Snuka to release a statement…probably won’t happen until Season 2 of Total Divas

justin

good for him but am i the only one who thinks people are making way too big of a deal about this?? I don’t care if a person is gay or straight and frankly, it shouldn’t matter.

Robert Olley

I totally agree but darrens definitely making a example that nobody should have to hide their sexuality

WyFo

The first gay WWE Champion in the future possibly?

Xavier

Wouldn’t this make him Bi and not gay. I though he was dating Tamina?

Phil

Could have been a beard?

Franco

Disgusting. So many women in this world and this guy goes to waste announcing he is gay.

Ricky

Stay classy bro

Franco

Seriously. These lesbians and gays don’t think about the crappy lives their kids are gonna have. These kids are gonna be pick on during school because of their parents. Selfish if you ask me.

Ricky

Dude, really? What kind of human being (and with you I use that term VERY loosely) do you have to be to even say crap like that. So and so is gay so they’re selfish? WTF?

BIG M

Scumbag.

Franco

Try decaf

BIG M

On my third decaf and I still say your a scumbag.

Franco

I don’t care what you think of me. It’s pretty pathetic that people like you lash out and resort to petty name calling just because they don’t agree with your stance on everything. Try caffeine because your going to need it.

BIG M

Clearly you don’t care.
You don’t care that your first 2 posts on this article were Ignorant Arrogant and Idiotic.
Posts that were clearly full of prejudice and discrimination and clearly show what an truly awful person you are.
The fact that people like you exit in this day and age sickens me.
And you say People like me are pathetic no you sir are pathetic in every sense of the word.
P.S. forget decaf or caffeine try whisky because you couldn’t be any dumber even if you were drunk.

Franco

Being pro-straight doesn’t make me prejudice, clearly you have a problem with people being pro-straight so that actually makes you prejudice and shows the discrimination in your personality. You are a sad excuse for a human being. I have a bottle of Jack Daniels with your name on it. Go Troll somewhere else you. And get a life.

BIG M

Pro straight thats like saying a racist is just pro white WOW.
So Go ahead call me hateful names like troll tell me you think I need to get a life because with that one unbelievably wrong post you have just proven my point.
Do yourself a favour mate and change before its too late because all the people you hate people like me or gay people and probably Atheists, scientists, Environmentalists and people from outside America too you Ignorant Arrogant Stupid Ugly American will all still be here long after your gone. Living there lives in peace trying to make this rotten world a better place to live in.
While trying to forget that people like you were ever around.
Reply back to me if you want I won’t answer back I’ve fuelled the spread of your crap on this site long enough don’t intend to again with you or anyone else people are entitled to there opinion but I find yours abhorrent and i hope there is enough sanity in this world that people ignore you instead of trying to debate with you like I been doing.
Finally I say this Hate accomplishes nothing I hate people like you and all it does is continue the cycle of hate between enlightened people like me and unenlightened people like you.
So from now on i intend to ignore people like you and if anyone else is reading this i implore you to do the same because people like Franco have been and still are destroying what ever we have left in this world thats good and kind in this world.
I apologise to the whole world for allowing myself to be roped in to this argument by someone like “don’t call me Francisco” Franco.

Franco

Your truly lost. You just said “hate accomplishes nothing” but then followed that up with “I hate people like you” smh. The world would be a better place without hypocritical ignorant judgmental bullies like you in it. If everyone in the world was gay or lesbian then how the hell would we pro-create. Oh and BTW, I’m Atheist and I’m not white so maybe you should shut your mouth before you run off with these assumptions. Being pro-straight has nothing to do with being white or being a racist seeing how I’m not neither one. Your a race baiter who tries to accuse others of being a racist to mask the fact that you has an agenda against heterosexuals. So go ahead and keep coming at me with all your racist nonsense about how people aren’t allowed to be pro-straight. Everytime you reply you make yourself look dumber & dumber and continue to show how much of a classless fool you are. Keep running your mouth Little m.

PFA56

He did say after that bit that hating you means he is repeating a cycle of hate between you two so he intends to stop.
Personally I think your both idiots who have said some stupid offensive stuff grow up guys.

Franco

Your the biggest idiot of them all, mind your business douche

Sam A. Melara

ignorance at its finest

Franco

Don’t talk about yourself like that troll baby

Sam A. Melara

you obviously need a refresher course on what a troll really is

Matt

Douche

Franco

Your not a douche, your Matt, which is a lot worse

Da KiDD

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Franco you are KILLING ME right now with your replies!! “I have a bottle of Jack Daniels with your name on it”….”Your not a douche, your Matt, which is a lot worse” ahahahaha I love it!

Jasterkast

Agreed! Who cares what you are in pro wrestling anyhow. Just some one else trying to get affirmation for a lifestyle with a short life span.

Avalanchian

Those kids of theirs that might get picked on are what is wrong with society. Awful parents letting their spoiled brat kids do whatever they please and never punish them. The bully scene needs to stop with schools. Bully should be sent to a boot camp school where they got no choice but to study and obey.

Robert Olley

I apologise gregory helms comments just reminded me of chris kanyon hopeful it will be the same with darren were we forget hes gay and remember his inring work.

Carlos is a dumbass

*Apologize not Apologise. *In ring not inring. I’m assuming you never watched reading “Reading Rainbow” as a kid

Destruction EWA

Apologise/Apologize is spelt (or spelled) differently depending on where you’re from. Apologise is how it’s spelt in England. The same as realised/realized, honour/honor etc.

Carlos is a dumbass

This is America though so……

Destruction EWA

But I’m English and so is Rob most likely. Your ignorance doesn’t spread to us.

Matt

Why are you hopeful it goes the same way as Kanyon? A man who ended his own life. Do your research

Robert Olley

Didnt mean i hope darren ends his own life thats a disturbed way to take what i wrote. I meant i remember kanyon for his inring work not the fact he was gay or that he killed himself.

_JIM_

Even though it seems extremely odd to me that he would choose to come out to a celebrity chaser for TMZ, what he did took a lot of guts, and everyone should be supportive of his decision. Deciding to be openly gay in a business that has such a “tough guy” reputation, and one with so many guys who are supposed to be bad asses, is a very couragous thing to do. I just hope that the business has come further in the years since Kanyon came out and basically got black listed for doing so.

Tony Rankin

This is a great thing but I don’t like how when a pro athlete comes out as gay they have to be congratulated for coming out. It shouldn’t have to be viewed as an accomplishment in our society when you reveal that you are anything besides heterosexual (straight). I can understand why its like this, but its sad that it has to be. Props to Darren Young though still and I hope this encourages not just other pro athletes, but every individual to be proud of their sexual preferences.

David

I hope WWE fans at live shows support Darren Young and not throw homophobic slurs at him.

Charles

Respect due to DY though in 2013 why should anyone be afraid to “come out “. Most straight guys don’t feel it’s necessary to stand on a chair and say they like girls. Gay and lesbian people shouldn’t have some unwritten obligation to tell everyone they are gay. It’s truly not our business.

Nick K

I agree with this, plus I gotta add that going out and making a huge deal about it kinda contradicts what young said about how this shouldn’t be a big deal.

Batesie

Yep he’s defo John cena’s twin !

John

This whole thing will be a storyline beginning next week on RAW! Not saying that Young isn’t actually gay, however the TMZ story was set up by WWE.

Once they start using this as a storyline , the reaction from fans is going to be hilarious!

Nick K

Its funny, isn’t making a deal out of this contrary to what Darren Young wants?

Xavier

Agree, personally I didn’t think it was necessary for him to make this public. The only thing that really matters is that he is truthful with himself. I really hope the WWE doesn’t push him just because of his sexual preference, because that doesn’t have anything to do with how good you are in the ring or on the mic. And if Darren is doing this just to try and get ahead then that’s shame on him. Having said all that, no one really knows why he decided to make this public. Honestly, I don’t think anymore or any less of him.

Xavier

I just think he’s the Cena’s black twin ..

Nick K

Anyone finding this a little fishy? TMZ just randomly asks him this question and it just so happens they picked the one gay Guy? Don’t get me wrong I think its great that he did this but it feels a little set up.

Xavier

Yo Richard, do you know if Darren Young was still dating Tamina when he made this announcement? If so, then I feel bad for Tamina as well. Even though Darren Young was brave enough to be truthful with the world and more importantly to himself you gotta imagine that something like this has to have a hurtful impact on her though. Hopefully he sat her down before making this public.

Xavier

Didn’t I tell you to stop using my name? Two people are not allowed to have the same name! NEVER!!!

It doesn’t make any difference to me whether he is gay or straight. Dude is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met and he’s super humble about himself. He always likes to entertain the fans that had his back through his whole time in NXT and his run on Superstars early on. It does give perspective of why he always got nervous around Rosa Mendez and always said “SHOOT!” around her. It’s a shame that all of the bullies pretending to be trolls are currently doing their shtick on Twiitter about him. Keyboard warriors are the worse thing that happened to the internet.

LBP365

it’s ok but, if this was plan by the WWE who might have already knew and use it as a storyline then it’s not ok. Just saying

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